


Lost in the Crowd

by nambnb



Series: Tales of the Vashoth Qunari and the Tevinter Mage [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Bullying, M/M, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, stupid couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 09:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9118582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nambnb/pseuds/nambnb
Summary: Dorian and the inquisitor both feeling out of place at a party.





	

**Author's Note:**

>  Chronology: pre Trespasser  
>  Relationship status: relationship established

People ignored his existence since they believed themselves to be better than the man left standing alone amidst the crowd, hand clutching a half-emptied glass of wine, eyes searching for a way to address somebody, anybody willing to accept him being there. All known faces had vanished somewhere, though, and nobody outside of his circle of acquaintances dared to make a move on a mage, especially none from a country as despicably depicted as Tevinter was in the South. Dorian had already tried to just stand close enough to small groups of people in hope to get into some trifling small talk, but they had chastised him with murderous glances the moment he had dared to draw too close to them, chasing him away with wicked comments and sneering words. The mage tried to take it like a man, like one accustomed to poisoned tongues and despicable remarks. But even he tired of the facade of walking on a knife’s blade barefooted with only his egocentricity to keep him from bleeding.

The inquisitor viewed the spectacle with watchful eyes, but was held back by a crowd of noble people thinking themselves to be important enough to keep the figurehead of the inquisition busy with trivial banter all evening already. The Qunari had stopped listening to them for some time now, giving them only an occasional nod and a smile to keep up the illusion of paying attention to their words. His eyes had been busy tracking Dorian and a means of escape from the situation he was in. If he could, he would just shove all of them aside in one go, grab Dorian and make a run for it, but Josephine would probably kill him for that kind of maneuver if he dared to ruin the evening she had so carefully set up to butter up some potent financiers and proponents for the inquisition.

Enough was enough however, but before Gundri could even try to come up with a decent excuse about how he had to leave now, Leliana stood in front of him the next moment and spoke to the group of nobles surrounding him.

“My lords and ladies, I hope you will excuse the inquisitor for a moment, but his worship’s duties never end and there is an urgent matter he needs to address right now.”

There was some disappointed muttering from the nobles, but Leliana was quick to wrap most of them around her little finger with her Bard-trained tongue – and the others payed attention to her out of sheer fear for their lives. The Qunari took the chance offered to him and stepped away from the crowd, passing Leliana, who whispered in his ear that he had half an hour or so to speak with Dorian before she needed him back in place.

He huffed a soft laugh in her direction and wanted to ask her how she knew what he had wanted, but she gave him a look like there was no way she would not have known, so he thanked her and made his way towards his beloved mage from Tevinter.

He found Dorian standing in a corner next to a table with an assortment of wines and fruits and various other snacks Gundri did not really know the names of on it. A scowl on Dorian’s face and a slight shade of red on his cheeks indicated that alcohol had been his best friend all evening. The inquisitor unceremoniously took the glass of wine Dorian was about to pour for himself for the umpteenth time out of the mage’s hands and put it on the table, circling the other.

“I think you’ve had enough for today, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Enough of what exactly?”, Dorian scoffed with a gruff tone in his voice, “Enough of the ice-cold stares or the stinging insults behind held up fans? Or enough of this poor excuse of an expensive wine with little to no nuances or taste and the only good thing about it being that it is still capable of making me drunk?”

Gundri gave him an understanding smile and reached out to caress the other’s cheek. Dorian half-flinched at the gesture and was about to brush the inquisitor’s hand away as his eyes darted around the room for onlookers. But he found none and was too sulky to actually give a damn about it at this point in time to be honest, so he allowed his lover to touch him with a sour expression on his face.

“Oh, that is a bad frown there, I almost want to throw myself at you and exchange some angry kisses.”

“Well, what’s keeping you from it then? This might just be the kind of scandal this dull excuse of a party needs to make this philistine bunch of snobs lose their shit tonight.”

“O-ho, you almost sound like Sera if you talk like that.” Gundri made a half-comical face at him and drew little circles on Dorian’s lips. “I am almost inclined to listen to this kind of a bad idea, but you will hate me for it in the morning, I’m sure.”

“Bah! Rubbish!”, Dorian huffed and tried to reach for the glass of wine again, but Gundri took his hand into his instead and kissed his knuckles before he started caressing Dorian’s back of the hand with his thumb while giving the mage a loving look.

“I wish the whole world knew what they miss for not being friends with you; what a passionate and dedicated person you are, how endearing your wit and charm can be. But maybe I should be thankful for that, because so long as nobody else notices, I’ll have you all to myself.”

He put one arm around Dorian’s waist and pulled him close to himself, then pushed him behind one of the large curtains, so they were obscured from view for the most part.

“Still up for some kisses?”

Their foreheads almost touched and their lips were only apart a few inches as it was, but Gundri wanted to give Dorian a way out if he really wasn’t up to it. His lover had the sort of look on his face that spelled “take me” however, so Gundri did not delay a moment longer and made their lips touch, then their tongues dance, and pulled the other into a tight embrace.

They parted slightly out of breath with the inquisitor licking his lips.

“You’re right about the wine, it really isn’t the best.”

“True, but a bit of inquisi-tongue makes up for it a little.”

Gundri snorted at the bad pun, then lovingly rubbed his forehead against Dorian’s with his eyes closed. “You allowing me to love you keeps me going, never doubt that. You are the most important person in the whole world for me.”

“Oh, please, that’s too much, even for me.”, Dorian laughed and playfully shoved the other off of him. He smiled in a way that clearly stated how nicely his ego had been stroked by the inquisitor’s comment, though. “I will survive this evening, don’t you worry about me. And then I’ll either give you back some of the appreciation you gave me tonight, or I’ll just delight you with my dead-drunk company. Either way, I will visit you later, amatus.”

The Qunari let out a reserved giggle at the thought of a dead-drunk Dorian clinging to him in his sleep, but felt like he would not mind either way.


End file.
